Phillips' powerful turnaround

September, 6, 2007

09/06/07

8:06

AM ET

Quite frankly, what's interesting about Brandon Phillips isn't that he hit his 28th homer last night and broke Joe Morgan's sort-of record. It was a lot harder to hit 28 homers in Morgan's day than it is today, so it's not like Phillips is the best power-hitting second baseman in Reds history.

What's interesting about Brandon Phillips is that he hit his 28th freakin' home run.

Four years ago, when he was 22, Phillips was one of the worst everyday players in the majors. Among major league players with at least 350 plate appearances, Phillips sported the worst OPS. Phillips made such an impression on the Indians, his then-employers, that he spent most of the next two seasons back in the minors, getting into only a few games with the big club. He'd also gotten a cup of September coffee in 2002. All told, from 2002 through 2005, Phillips played in 135 games in the majors and hit six home runs.

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Rob Neyer

Rob Neyer is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He began his career with legendary baseball author (and current Red Sox executive) Bill James, then joined Stats Inc. and wrote about MLB, the NFL and the NBA. Neyer joined ESPN.com in 1996, and it's believed that he's written more words for the site than anybody.

Neyer moved to Kansas City in 1976, just in time for the Royals' first division title, and fell in love almost immediately. He attended the University of Kansas the same four years as Danny Manning, and is now happy to wait another 20 years for the Jayhawks' next championship.